Cultivation of more than 53,000 hectares of aromatic and medicinal crops

Damascus-(ST)- Medical and aromatic crops have occupied an important place on the agricultural map and contributed to the food and pharmaceutical manufacturing sector. They have also contributed to securing an additional income for farmers at reduced production costs through export.

“The Ministry of Agriculture puts the cultivation of the most important aromatic crops as one of its priorities. These crops include cumin, anise, black seed and coriander, and to a lesser extent fennel, thyme, Coriander, fennel, Thyme, fenugreek and the Damascene Rose.” Engineer Ahmad Hamidi, the Head of the Field Crops Department at the Plant Production Directorate at the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, said in a statement to SANA.

He pointed that the area cultivated with these crops for the current season amounted to 53,290 hectares out of the total cultivation plan which is 68,517 hectares in different Syrian governorates, with an implementation rate of 78%.

For his part, the agricultural engineer Faisal Hussein indicated that investing in medicinal and aromatic plants is a profitable project from an economic point of view, as it is a low-cost cultivation and it does not require specific agricultural operations like other crops.

He indicated that these crops are easy to market domestically, and it is environmentally friendly, as it does not need large quantities of fertilizers and pesticides and therefore the cost of production is low compared to the yield and to other crops.

Nada Haj Khidr